Lingering essence
by Stanjour
Summary: [Post-season 2, NOT spoiler free] The last words of her grandmother Aoi echoes in her mind and Akane tries to keep away her sadness using the only method she knows. But the scent of that 'method' brings along something else, too.


**Hello! This is my first fanfiction written in English. Hope you like it and review, because I'd like to improve :)  
>It's <span>post-season 2<span>, so I'm WARNING you: If you didn't see it and don't want even the slightest SPOILER then don't read!**

* * *

><p><strong>Lingering essence<strong>

Akane closed her eyes and swallowed her sadness before setting them again, for the last time that day, on Tsunemori Aoi's grave. The sunset was beautiful, its light caste long shadows on the ground and dyed the flowers on the burial place with splendid shades of orange and red, but all Akane saw looking at the gravestone in front of her was the corpse of her grandmother covered in blood and bruises, while her voice echoed in her mind calling her name. _'A-chan, A-chan'_.  
>She frowned and breathed in, trying to pull herself together and don't shed any tears – again – while friends and grandmother's acquaintances showed their condolences to her parents.<p>

_'A-chan, A-chan...! Help me, child, please!'_

She woke up that night holding her breath, suddenly opening her eyes and sitting up on her own bed in haste, covered in cold sweat and shivering in the dark of the room. No AI housekeeper showed up this time – she turned it off after the funeral. _Stay calm, stay calm... it's all right._ Her mind calmed down after few minutes and the voice of her grandmother vanished, but the right hand reached for her chest and Akane squeezed the light shirt, closing her eyes again. _… It's not all right_. Akane sighed and pulled her legs close. She let her head rest on the knees a bit before feeling relieved.

"I need a shower..." she groaned in a soft voice.

Akane shifted the blanket and put her feet on the wooden floor. It was then her eyes met the dark shapes of the cigarettes and the ashtray.

She didn't even realize it. At first she was sitting on the edge of the matrass, and immdiately after she was standing near the desk, her slender and pale fingers wrapped around one, single cigarette. When the surprise subsided, Akane chuckled to herself and lightly shook her head. She felt the fringe caresses her own skin, and then the Inspector decided to light up that cigarette. She did it paying attention to every single move she made, and she felt as If time decided to slow down a little and let her enjoy the moment. Akane watched as the cigarette slowly caught fire and turned bright red on the tip, and then placed it in the ashtray without putting it out. She breathed the smoke, almost chocking despite being already accustomed to it. It was a faint grey in the pitch black darkness of her room, and she smiled a little, forgetting her nightmare and the whole world around her. Another memory replaced them.

"How stupid I am..." she said, sarcastic.

"Why this?" asked suddenly an husky voice, ironically.

Akane opened her eyes wide and tried to reach for the heavier object in her field of action to defend herself. She found a lamp on the desk and grabbed it. She was ready to turn around and see who was behind her, eventually hit him, _But when did I close my eyes? From where did he arrive?_ Her fingers tightened the object but when she turned to face the man with her back against the edge of the desk and a fierce look on her face, the lamp almost fell on the floor: _he_ was leaning against the door frame of her room with a cigarette between his lips slightly curled in a smile; one of his hands was in the pocket of the grey pants, while the other kept a familiar metal helmet. His muscular build was hidden by a simple white shirt and the usual dark grey coat with fur hood.

The smile turned into a grin as time passed and Akane remained silent. "Yo. It's like you've seen a ghost... Did you give up on seeing me alive despite your optimism, Inspector Tsunemori?" asked amused the former Enforcer. He took a step towards her, and only then Akane regained her senses.

"Kougami-san..." she whispered.

She was shocked, obviously. Kougami Shinya stopped, his blue eyes on her. Akane knew he was analysing her behaviour, her looks, her _thoughts_.

"What...? How...?" she added then, trying to regain control over her emotions. Akane's voice was shaking.

The lamp remained in her hands and the former Enforcer did notice it. He sighed, but he wasn't tense. When he stepped forward again, Akane straightened her back and took a step to the side, putting the lamp aside finally. Shinya crushed the cigarette in the ashtray, looking at the other one she lit up previously. He didn't say anything thought, spying her reaction only with the corner of his eye.

"I thought you would have been happy to see me again, Missy" he teased her with a smile, shaking his head slowly. His spiky black hair shifted and caressed his temple. Akane blinked.

"Of course!" She replied immediately and took a step in his direction, looking into his deep eyes. "Of course I'm happy, Kougami-san... it's only that...". She bit her lower lips, looking at her right side with flushed cheeks this time.

"I didn't expect it. You showed up so suddenly... you startled me. I don't know how you got into my apartment, but... I would like to be warned next time." she finished with a fake harsh tone, pouting.

Silence fell after that and Akane realized what she said. _Next time. _If there was a next time.

Akane nervously raised her head – _When did I lowered it?_ - staring at Kougami's melancholic gaze.

"Next time I'll knock on the door, then..." He smiled at her, and Akane silently thanked him for it, sighing.

"Good." She whispered. "So... Kougami-san, why _exactly_ are you here? I don't think you actually dropped in out of courtesy... Am I right?" she asked then, slightly smiling and much more relaxed.

Kougami shrugged with the same ironic chuckle, his muscular shoulders rising for an instant – an istant in which Akane's deep brown eyes stared at them, fascinated.

"I was near and I needed a place to hide from Sybil's eyes". He grinned, so Akane pouted again.

"You liar..." she complained murmuring. Then she crossed her arms over her chest without looking at him. An error, maybe.

Shinya took advantage of it. In one step he was standing at one breath of distance from Akane, whose eyes widened. She raised her head only to take more notice the short distance. She gulped and blushed heavily this time when Shinya's warm eyes met hers. _Where they always this warm despite their colour...?_, she thought and swallowed hard.

"Why am I _the_ liar, Inspector...? I'm a fugitive, it's normal to search for a safe place, isn't it?" he scoffed in a strange, hoarse and low voice. It was almost as If his mouth was next to her ear, whispering, and Akane felt hot. She took a deep breath but then Shinya spoke again.

"I've heard of your grandmother. I've seen you at the funeral today, from distance." he confessed right away without changing his expression. Even so, Akane's lower lip trembled from sadness as she knew that he was worried for her. As always.

He didn't add his condolences, nor said he was sorry. He only wrapped his arms around her, silently, placing his head next to hers while Akane started sobbing. She trembled in that embrace, searching for his heat. Akane found it in the moment Shinya hugger her more tightly and her hands squeezed his coat on the back, while her head rested on his warm chest.

_Bu-bump... bu-bump... _

Akane blinked with tears in her eyes and narrowed her forehead before realizing she was hearing the sound of Kougami-san's heart. She listened to it for a long time and calmed down, her cheeks flushed and her lips parted and swollen, breathing softly in the silence filled only with Shinya's heartbeat and the scent of his cigarettes.

"So warm..." she whispered. Akane closed her eyes and pressed her ear and body against him and his chest. She was ready to say something embarrassing but not to see Kougami-san's face in the process. "I missed you, Kougami-san..."

The reply was a chuckle. It echoed in his chest and Akane blushed hardly listening to it, embarrassed from what she said. She last resorted to open her brown eyes again only when she felt a warm hand shifting from her back to her shoulder, and then again on her left cheek, making her raise her head. She met Shinya's blue eyes, filled with emotion. _Ahhh... that's why they're so warm_, she thought.

"... Your positive thinking affected me, it seems". They laughed together, softly and looking at each other. A single tear fell from Akane's eyes. "... I think this means I missed you too, Akane...?".

He bended over her and their lips finally met each other's, softly. Another tear fell from Akane's eyes, merely for happiness this time, while her hands moved from his back to his head, to his black hair, to caress and press him against herself. More and more. Shinya pushed his lips against hers roughly then, taking her by surprise. He licked her lower lip to ask permission to explore her and Akane happily complied. Their tongues battled for a very short time.

Shinya smiled in the kiss and distanced himself for a brief moment. "Easy victory, Inspector..." he whispered while looking at her.

She pouted a little, then welcomed the next deep kiss with a blissful expression. Her fingers run through his hair and then arrived at his pale neck, caressing it lovingly. Their moans where suffocated by the kiss itself, but when Shinya moved to press his lips and suck at her neck Akane let out a cry, panting with cheeks as red as apples. She felt his smile against her shoulder's skin then, exposed by the wide collar of the shirt. Only then she reminded her 'pyjamas', merely a shirt and shorts. _Lucky me I decided to wear them... _she thought embarrassed. She was used to sleep wearing only her underwear.

When she re-opened her eyes she was on her bed, with her back against it and Kougami-san lying over her. He smiled at her. Akane noticed her irregular breath and gulped, looking at him in a daze. Shinya extended his right hand – _Wait, where did he leave the helmet...? When...?_ – then caressed her face, from the temple to the chin.

"You changed... Maybe it would be good for you to forget me...?" he murmured.

She widened her eyes, holding her breath. "What?"

Shinya's expression softened again, then he bended over her to press his lips against hers. Akane panted, her heart skipped a beat, throbbing in her chest and ears furiously.

He chuckled and left her lips tumid, looking into Akane's eyes. "You changed, but you are you, always..."

She blinked. _I don't get it..._, and the moment she thought it she knew he understood it as well. He smiled again and caressed her cheekbone with his thumb.

"You did well. You're tough, Inspector... But it's time to _wake up._ Now."

She raised her head from her arms crossed on the desk, next to the ashtray. Akane looked at it for a moment in a daze, then shifted her gaze to the window. It was already morning. The cigarette she lit up became ashes long ago surely, but the scent of tobacco lingered in her room all night. Akane smiled sadly, then sighed while stretching her legs and arms, sat on the chair. She reminded the dream – Yes, it was a dream... so vivid – and her cheeks became hotter. She blushed, sighed again and covered her face with her hands.

"Damn... Stupid cigarettes!" she cried out embarrassed.

She knew it. It was bound to happen. She used that cigarettes to calm down, but they were a double-edged weapon. The sadness for her grandmother's death and funeral got mixed with her feelings, and then...

"Stop, Tsunemori Akane. You need a shower, remember? There's work to do." she said to herself in a soft and hard voice.

Akane shook her head and patted her face with the palms of her hands, standing up with a resolute look in the eyes. She turned on the AI housekeeper, and the jellyfish appeared as always. It made her smile a little.

"GOOOOOD MORNING, AKANE-SAN! YOUR HUE IS A SPLENDID POWDER BLUE AGAIN, TODAY. WHAT A HEALTY MIND. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO, AKANE-SAN?"

"Start the shower, please..."

"SURE, AKANE-SAN!"

While the AI disappeared and the water started to fall in the shower in the next room, Akane looked out of the windows. She took a deep breath and smiled, much more relaxed now in that apartment filled with the lingering smell of Kougami-san's favourite cigarettes.

"DO YOU WANT AN AIR CHANGE, AKANE-SAN? SMOKING ISN'T GOOD FOR HEALTH!" said then the AI, appearing again. She pouted.

"Maybe later..." she said coldly. So she walked to the shower in the bathroom, while the AI kept talking.

Akane didn't know that not so distant, into the shadows and out of the reach of the scanners of Sybil, a pair of blue eye kept watching at her building before disappearing.


End file.
